Flip side of the same coin A retelling of Othello
by GwynSvietBackfromtheDead
Summary: In the process of being rewritten
1. Part one: Iago

So, I started writing this when we read Othello in my sophomore year in high school, I was inspired by some...very interesting lines. I wanted to write what I thought the back story was, what I thought everyone was thinking before Shakespeare wrote them down, and then I forgot about it until...well...today. I tried really hard with this one, so I hope you enjoy! really...oh, and review please. I need all the help I can get =3 I would like to give special thanks to my friends Ma-chan and Ko-chan, thanks for listening to my horrible stories!

Cast o' Characters (in case you forgot)

Iago- Villain with a past

Cassio- The happy fool with a dark secret

Roderigo- Innocent boy with unrequited love

Othello- The moor of Venice

Desdimona- Has personal linen in the wrong place at the wrong time

Emillia- Strong in spirit, but not strong enough

Bianca- Caught up in this whole stupid mess

(There are more people, I just won't use them because I'm lazy...and I make up characters when I need to)

Part one: Iago

Iago hadn't moved, feeling the warm morning sun on his bare chest; a rustling of the sheets made him screw his eyes shut. Emillia got out of bed and called to their servant "Bianca! Could you help me get dressed please?" she walked towards the chest of drawers and stopped. He could feel her turn to him; he pretended to still be asleep. He felt her climb back on the bed, her soft hair tickled his face and her breath teased his ear. She kissed his face, her soft lips hovering over his cheek, his ear, stopping on his forehead. "Wake up love" she cooed, kissing his lips. Iago opened his eyes, staring into her face. Emillia wasn't bad looking, with auburn curls and a straight nose; some people would call her pretty. For some reason though, Iago was not attracted to her at all. She kissed his ear and Iago just wanted to shove her away "Please Emillia, not now" he said shortly. Emillia sat up and looked at him, her lower lip trembled for a second and then she bit it to hide her anger. "Yes mi'lord" she said stiffly, she slid off the bed with her back to him and opened the door for Bianca. The maid helped her into her heavy gowns and she left, not turning back. Only after she was gone Iago got out of bed, arching to stretch his stiff muscles. He eased over to the mirror and slowly pulled his tunic off, gingerly touching the love bites allover his chest. He grinned sheepishly; Cassio had been a little rough the other night, but he wasn't the only one that had left with a few bite marks he thought ruefully. Iago was about to reach for another tunic when Bianca returned to the room. She stopped; they both froze in place and her eyes wandered over the marks that the mistress obviously didn't create. She blushed and turned her eyes to her feet, snatching a fan from next to the bed she tried to rush from the room, Iago grabbed her arm "If you breath a word of this to Emillia…I can think of many punishments deserving of a whore like you" he hissed, Bianca didn't meet his eye "Such things happen in great houses…I won't tell mistress Emillia mi'lord" Iago tightened his grip for a second and then let go. Bianca scurried out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Iago breathed a sigh of relief and then his knees gave out, he sunk to the floor and rested his head on his arms. If Emillia had been the one to walk into the room…he shuddered to think about what would happen. He didn't think that she would scream, or throw things like other scorned and angry women. He could already see in his minds eye the hurt and unforgiving expression on her face, she would never trust him again; she would probably even withdraw from everything around her and never talk again. He shook the thoughts from his head and pulled on a new tunic, he found some leggings in the bottom of a pile of clothes, when he was finished dressing he ran down the stairs to the main part of the house. He found Emillia in the kitchen, listlessly sorting through a pile of clean handkerchiefs. A weird feeling came over him and, on an impulse; he kissed her on the top of her hair. "I'm going out" he murmured in her ear, the smile she gave him could have melted any stone hart, except it couldn't melt his own "I'll be waiting for you mi'lord" she replied. Bianca only stared at the floor as he walked out of the house.

Iago had been married to Emillia for only a month and he was already having an affair. It was an arranged marriage, one without love, and only for the wealth that her family had wanted to marry into. Iago had the luck (or was it misfortune) to be born into a wealthy merchant family, he was never without tutors or rich clothes growing up. Iago's large family had lavished their attention on him and his older brother Antonio, always throwing suitors at them and taking special attention to their studies. He had grown up into a life of great happiness, being groomed to become part of the Italian armed elite while his brother would take over the family business. His favorite people in the world had been his younger sister Maria and his best friend Anthony, the gardener's boy, he couldn't remember Anthony's family name now, and it had been so long ago. Iago had been fourteen…or was it fifteen? When he had met his fiancé Emillia, that had been the same year he had kissed Anthony behind the gardening shed, the same year his sister had gotten sick. His parents had found out about the kiss and had carted Anthony off to the country, his sister died a few months later from the plague. It had been so long ago that he had almost forgotten, probably Anthony had forgotten and was now married to some village wench with a huge brood of children. He kicked a rock angrily from his path, fuming from the memories that he tried to forget. He didn't love his wife, but so did half of the aristocracy! But in the back of his mind, a little voice kept telling him that what he was doing, where he was going, was going to destroy him and Emillia in the end. He never listened to the voice anyway, he knew it was wrong and against his marriage vows, but he still went. It took him a few minuets to get to Cassio's house; Cassio always left the back door unlocked for him. Iago went through the door and up the back stairs, trying not to step on the squeaky steps as he went. Cassio was in his library, maps and books were thrown about and old cups full of rancid wine littered the floor. Bookshelves were on every wall, stuffed with books and strange things picked up from Cassios travels. The maid refused to clean the room until Cassio learned to tidy up after himself, her request was out of line but Cassio loved her like a mother and just lived with the mess. Cassio was sprawled across the couch, asleep with a book in one hand and a glass in his other. His hands were ink stained and he had a spot of jam on his cheek from a piece of bread that had slipped to the floor, his whole look was disheveled. Iago tiptoed up to the couch to not startle the sleeping occupants, he brushed a golden curl from the young mans face and kissed his forehead. The hand that was holding the book dropped it and grabbed Iago's wrist, pulling him on top of the previously asleep Cassio and onto the couch. Iago gasped is surprise at the trickery, but was soon silenced by Cassio's mouth on his.

~Cool! Hope you liked the beginning chapter


	2. Part two: Emillia

Characters

Iago- Villain with a past

Cassio- The happy fool with a dark secret

Roderigo- Innocent boy with unrequited love

Othello- The moor of Venice

Desdimona- Has personal linen in the wrong place at the wrong time

Emillia- Strong in spirit, but not strong enough

Bianca- Caught up in this whole stupid mess

Part two: Emillia

Emillia hadn't wanted to get married, the idea had never appealed to her. As a child she had wanted to be the pope, but soon found out that only a man could be a pope (and had to be a priest at that). At thirteen she was forced to meet her fiancé, and then had quickly changed her mind about marriage. Iago was the most beautiful she had ever seen, his raven black hair and icy blue eyes almost swept her away, he had looked especially daring in the long black coat he wore, a little dangerous even. He had seemed at ease in the whole uncomfortable situation, something she had to respect. During the whole visit he said but one word to her and kissed her hand, she was breathless the whole time and had almost fainted. Later, Emillia dreamed of the day that she would marry him. They would live in a big fancy house with lots of servants; she would have pretty gowns and lots of gold jewelry and as many shoes as she wanted. Iago would love her more than anything else in the world, he would promise to buy her the moon and stars and she would giggle at the suggestion but secretly love it. They would have lots of children and he would love them all, even if they were girls. She wanted to kiss him, run her fingers through his hair and do all sorts of unmentionable things. He wedding day was the best day in her life, he had looked like a fallen angel, brooding, but saying the vows with such feeling. After the reception she had been led to the bed room, blushing like a commoner and tripping over her own feet. He left and she had gotten undressed and had waited, and waited. He didn't return until first light and then quickly fell asleep; he never touched her that night. In a month of marriage he hadn't touched her once; she couldn't understand what she was doing wrong. She tried her hardest to please him, dressing provocatively and waking him with kisses and touches, he would still push her away. She didn't know what she was doing wrong, was it her face? Her nose was a little big, and she hadn't lost the baby fat from her cheeks. Was it her body? She was a little skinny after all, even though she tried to eat as much as she could. She hated herself for not being able to please him, she knew he was seeing someone else, she wasn't stupid. She saw it in his eyes; she saw the marks on his body, even though he tried to hide them. Emillia sighed and put down the handkerchief, she stared at the pile in front of her and her eyes welled with tears. Her husband didn't love her; her friends had husbands of their own so they didn't come around often, she was so lonely. She sniffed and a tear ran down her face, she had no one to talk to, besides Bianca, and she had the feeling that Bianca was keeping something from her. For a moment she was filled with an unnamable rage, at her husband for not being a husband, at her family for putting her into this situation, at all her friends for living their own happy lives. She slammed her fists on the table, making a mug fall off and shatter. That made her snap back to reality, the tears by now were coursing down her face and her body was wracked with sobs. She had to get out of the house, she would go crazy otherwise. She grabbed her purse and a shawl to cover her head and ran out the door, brushing past Bianca. "Mi'lady Emillia!" she called out, but Emillia refused to listen. All her life she had listened to what people had told her, but now she was far past listening.


	3. Part three: Iago

We're back to Iago now...and the smutish stuff =3

Cast o' Characters

Iago- Villain with a past

Cassio- The happy fool with a dark secret

Roderigo- Innocent boy with unrequited love

Othello- The moor of Venice

Desdimona- Has personal linen in the wrong place at the wrong time

Emillia- Strong in spirit, but not strong enough

Bianca- Caught up in this whole stupid mess

Part three: Iago

Iago broke from the kiss and licked the stray jam from Cassio's cheek. Cassio wrapped his arm tighter around Iago's waist and pulled him closer "A little sore today?" he asked, nibbling Iago's ear. Iago squirmed and moaned softly "Not enough to not come back and try again" he said mischievously, his hands twisted in golden curls. Cassio's other hand roamed up Iago's tunic, he brushed Iago's nipple and was met with another moan. "Bruised? My dear Iago, you have such a low tolerance for pain" he smirked, but none the less he arched an eyebrow in concern. "Just shut up" Iago growled, kissing Cassio hard, both their tongues mingled and it was Cassios turn to moan. Iago started untying Cassio's tunic, all the while kissing Cassio's neck, his chest. He flicked his tongue over Cassio's nipple, causing a gasp of pleasure. Cassio somehow got Iago's tunic off and was working on the leggings, he slipped his thumbs into the waistband and slowly started to pull them off. "Master Cassio!" the elderly maid's voice echoed in the hall, not to far off. Iago rolled off of Cassio and under the couch; it was a very close call. The maid came in and asked what Cassio wanted for dinner, not leaving until he had outlined the appetizers to desert. "Damnit" thought Iago.

It had been a few weeks since Iago had been alone with Cassio, he had been so busy and hadn't wanted to make Emillia more suspicious then she already was. The only reason why he was so busy was because his regiment had gotten a new captain, a moor by the name Othello. Othello was…black, so he wanted to show everyone else that he was capable of his job by making them work hard. Iago didn't mind, Othello was smart, so Iago didn't care that he had to report to a black Arab. Othello wasn't that bad looking either, he flirted all the time with this one blonde that always seemed to show up at training for some reason, making people grumble. One of the new recruits was a kid named Roderigo, he was seventeen and very inexperienced in…well, everything. He seemed to take a liking to Cassio and followed him around like a puppy, an annoying puppy, but he was nice all the same. Once, Iago had met Cassio walking down a dark hallway. Roderigo wasn't there, so Iago had reached for Cassio. Cassio had brushed him off like he wasn't there, leaving him alone without a word. Iago had felt hurt, and had suspected Cassio of all sorts of unmentionable things, probably with Roderigo.


End file.
